Jeff McDonald: More on Beno

MINNEAPOLIS — Since we’re in Minnesota tonight — home of Prince, Kirby Puckett and for about 45 seconds in October, Beno Udrih — it’s only natural that the former Spurs point guard is on Gregg Popovich’s lips.

Udrih, of course, was the talk of both San Antonio and Sacramento earlier this week, when he scored a career-high 27 points to help his new team (the Kings) beat his old one.

Before Udrih hooked on with Sacramento, however, he was briefly the property of the Timberwolves. The Spurs initially parted with Udrih by trading him to Minnesota, in a deal that opened up both roster and salary-cap space. The Wolves, however, waved Udrih before the ink was even dry on the deal — a move Popovich found mildly surprising.

“I thought they might keep him,” Popovich said.

Minnesota coach Randy Wittman says the Timberwolves might have welcomed Udrih — if they weren’t overloaded with contracts at the time of the trade.

“We had about 52 guys,” Wittman said.

And so, Minnesota said “hello, goodbye” to Udrih, who then signed with Sacramento as a free agent.

Again Friday, this time for reporters in Minnesota, Popovich painted the Udrih deal as one meant to benefit the player as much as the Spurs.

Udrih was in the final year of his rookie contract in San Antonio. He needed a big year to earn another contract, and he wasn’t going to get that behind Tony Parker and Jacque Vaughn.

“I thought we kind of owed him,” Popovich said. “Now, what we’re seeing, he’s going to get a contract. It would have been awful to have him sitting there all year long.”